Anyone that knows The Tailgate Kings knows of our love of Dan LeBatard and the group of content creators that he helped spawn with his Highly Questionable show on the Network, and two of our favorites to come out of that are Bomani Jones and Dominique Foxworth, and after HQ sailed off into the night, it seemed the only time you could ever get Bo and Dom together is when The Right Time started having Foxworth Fridays.
Which in turn spawned The Dominique Foxworth Show.
And that’s how we get to Meatballs, as this was the topic of Dom’s very first podcast.
So, in celebration of this and of all the Meatball Takes out there, and there are quite a few, we bring you the tried and true classic Meatball Sub in Chef’s special tomato sauce with a side of sautéed veggies (because not everything needs French Fries or potato chips).
And this one has moves simple enough that any of you can replicate and show off to your friends and loved ones at your next tailgate.
As always, hit us up @TheTailgateKing on Twitter and let us know what you thought or what other recipes you’d like to see!
The Meatball Sub with a side of Sautéed Veggies
What We Need For the Meatballs:
2 pounds of ground Italian sausage
2 pounds of ground beef
4 cloves minced garlic
1 each small diced red, yellow, and orange bell pepper
1 small diced red onion
2 eggs
2 T parsley
2 T thyme
1 T rosemary
5 T sage
5 T paprika
1/2 C shredded parmesan
1/4 C bread crumb
S&P TT
What We’re Doing with It:
We’re going to start by chopping up all our veggies to a nice dice. Then in a large frying pan, sweat it out while adding your herbs to the mix.
Once they’re looking good, set them to the side to cool.
Then in a mixing bowl, add in your veggies, eggs, Italian sausage, ground beef, shredded parm, and your bread crumb, then mix it all together and set in the fridge to come together.
After letting it set for a few minutes, take back out and add additional parmesan or bread crumbs if needed, and then begin to roll your meatballs. The size is largely up to you, but be weary of going too large or too small. A good inch to inch and a half diameter is ideal. With this amount of meat, you should get about 16 to 20 meatballs.
Now get that frying pan going again, and you’re going to sear the meatballs on each side, being certain to keep them from sticking in the pan.
Then place them in a pan with some of your tomato sauce (doing that next) and bake them at about 325 for around 10 minutes.
Finally, pull them out, and they’re ready for your sandwich (or however you choose to enjoy them). As for the sauce…
What We Need for the Sauce:
12 each Roma tomatoes (roasted)
3 C chicken stock
2 small diced yellow onion
2 small diced bells
1/2 C small diced carrot
5 cloves roasted garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Parsley
Something Sweet
What We’re Doing With It:
Start by pouring your chicken stock in a pot and reducing it down. Then get your oven preheated to about 400 degrees.
Next get your tomatoes in a big enough pan that they all have some space, and get them coated with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, then put them in the oven to roast.
While you’re waiting on the tomatoes, go ahead and start chopping up your veg. Now, we’re going with a more chunkier chop this time than usual. Then take your chopped up veg and add it to another pot. Then begin pouring in your reduced chicken stock, and add in all the herbs and spices on the list, and maybe a little sweetness if it’s in you, like a dash of brown sugar or cinnamon.
When your tomatoes are finished roasting, pull them from the oven, but before you set them aside to cool, get that good juice from the pan and pour it into your sauce pot.
Once the tomatoes have cooled off enough, begin pulling the skin from the and adding them to your sauce. Let them all marinate together for a minute.
Then in batches, begin to puree your sauce mix in a blender. If you’re like us, it’ll take about 3 batches to blend it all, so you’re going to want a holding container for your sauce ready to go.
Then when you’re finished, set the sauce to the side. Speaking of sides…
What We Need for Sautéed Veg:
1 good sized piece of Squash
1 good sized piece of Zucchini
4 cloves minced Garlic
Butter
S&P TT
What We’re Doing with It:
This is a quick side dish here. All we need is to have our pan ready with a little butter to sauté, then chop up our veggies with a rolling chop. It doesn’t have to be perfect by any means, but shouldn’t be bigger than bite-sized.
Then simply sweat out the veggies with a little minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Easy enough.
Final Moves:
Take your sub roll and hit it with a little roasted garlic or butter, and then toast it for a minute in the oven.
Then add your meatballs on top with an honest amount of provolone cheese, and again, toss it in the oven for a few minutes.
When the cheese is nicely melted, sprinkle some lettuce on top of the sandwich and plate it with your side of sautéed veggies, and you’re done.
Your Tailgate Kingdom will thank you!
And there you have it. Another fantastic creation brought to you by The Tailgate Kings!